0 get him to the island and as long as there's communication, we'll be able to communicate with him and see what's going on there. but it's very hard to not have any word from that island and the people on it since that time. in lafite, the water was very high. our first responders, the sheriff, firefighters, louisiana national guard, some coast guard are there doing search and rescue. they're having to get boats in and out. we are sheltering those people at a playground and then i believe the state is going to coordinate, governor, for a pickup and move them out to alexandria is my understanding. and then of course our systems are down. we have no electricity, no communication. our water systems are down. we're losing pressure. we had to do a boil water advisory. our sewer system, as you know, is based on electricity, so we're going to start having back-ups there, so that's going to be a hygiene problem, and we're encouraging residents who are out of the area to stay out because we do not have the modern amenities to bring them back home and the people inside, you know, we're going to have to take care of them. but some of the people in here who stayed during the storm and are okay. in the next couple days, they may want to get out and it may be best because it's going to be a difficult life for quite some time. >> thank you, madam president. >> thank you. >> cedric, what about the oil port? >> well, the governor or parish president sheng can talk about that. the president's inquiring about the oil ports down in the port and the effect and where we are there. >> i personally do not have eyes on that situation, so actually, the only -- the visual i get is if i see something on the national news. >> hello, even, i'm alisyn camerota, welcome to "newsroom." >> i'm victor blackwell. obviously had a bit of an audio problem there, but you have been listening to the fema briefing on the response to what was hurricane ida. ida, as we know now, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the u.s. one official in louisiana says it's the worst case scenario that seems to have happened. we're starting to see, look at this, some of the severe damage. we know a fallen tree killed one man, but louisiana's governor expects the death toll to rise, in his words, considerably. and now, hundreds of search and rescue crews are out. 5,200 national guard troops have been deployed to help louisiana and texas and other states in the southeast. also, emergency officials are now on the watch for what will be -- what the storm surge will bring. we know ida made landfall as a category 4 hurricane sunday. 16 years to the day since katrina hit. >> okay, so, this is what 150-mile-per-hour winds sounded like in the port. >> it's like the world just stopped. >> cnn films presents "9/11" sunday at 8:00 on cnn. >> half a million people, at&t says 40% of its wireless network is down across louisiana. la fourche parish says entry will be blocked up to a week and maybe longer. emergency officials in multiple parishes are directing people to let rescuers know. moments ago. >> this morning, communications commission has worked with the cellular providers to initiate their cooperative framework agreement. that agreement allows customers with one provider to go to another provider if that provider is down. so, it allows customers to use roaming access carriers that are up and running. and that means you should be able to get a signal, no matter who your carrier was or is. the main thing i want to make clear to all of you is we're providing any help that you're going to need. >> let's go 30 miles west of new orleans. search boats and helicopters are out there trying to rescue people trapped in their homes. >> cnn's ed lavandera is there for us. ed, what are you seeing? >> reporter: alisyn, we've been here on highway 51 in laplace, louisiana, for several hours this morning. this spot has become kind of a landing spot for people who have been plucked out of these neighborhoods around this area. you can see this is the boats that have been coming into these neighborhoods on my right and left side, and over and over, what we've seen here this morning, alisyn and victor, is kind of a sense of people dazed, still beleaguered, still trying to process what a horrific night so many of them endured here through the worst of this storm, hurricane ida. many residents here tell us that they were completely stunned by the magnitude and the force of the sustained winds that hurricane ida still had surrounding this storm, even this far inland. and many residents, one resident in particular, described the roof collapsing in her home as she was inside her home on the second floor with her 84 and 85-year-old parents. horrific scenes. one gentleman we spoke with talked about retreating to his attic as the flood waters started rushing into his home. >> you ended up in your attic? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. the water was just coming in so fast that you know, it got to about knee level so quick, i didn't know if it was going to stay there. it came in all at once. >> reporter: were you worried that you were going to be stuck and trapped in your attic? >> yeah, i was, because, i mean, you hear stories. you hear people that, you know, seven, eight, nine feet and i just -- i don't know what i would have done if it was that. i guess i would have just had to fight my way out and swim. my dad taught me how to swim. >> reporter: so, helicopters still swarming around many of these neighborhoods and subdivisions that have high water still in many parts. the water in a lot of places has started to recede and receded rather quickly. where we're standing was actually under water for much of the overnight hours and into early this morning. but there is still a significant amount of water and we're told by many of the residents, as you go deeper into these subdivisions, about waist high so it's still very treacherous for some of these people to be able to escape and get out and that's why you're still seeing law enforcement agencies that have boats out here, helicopters flying overhead, trying to assess and figure out exactly how many people still want to be brought out of these neighborhoods, and that work is continuing here in afternoon. alisyn and victor? >> so, ed, are those helicopters doing rescues or just trying to spot people on their roofs? >> reporter: well, i think it's a little -- a combination of both. i think it's a lot of just trying to identify where they need to be. we did see one coast guard chopper fly over and one of the crew members descended by the rope down into a neighborhood, and then they pulled the rope back up, so perhaps someone needed more immediate attention. but a lot of the work that seems to be doing is just identifying who needs to go where and you see boats launching into these neighborhoods. and we're told that not everybody necessarily wants to come out of their homes. some people do want to get brought out, and then they're taking a little bit further into town so relatives or friends can pick them up from there. but you know, again, the overwhelming sense that you get from everybody that comes out of these neighborhoods is just this, like, beleaguered sense of dismay as to what they have endured for the last 12 hours. >> ed, there are plenty of chemical plants often referred to as cancer alley close to laplace there. i know that was a concern, if there would be any vulnerabilities from those facilities. any reports of anything along that route? >> reporter: yeah, that's obviously a big concern going into this storm, especially considering how strong hurricane ida remained, even this far inland. i have not -- our cell phone coverage and reception has been incredibly spotty for much of the morning, so i have not seen any specific updates on -- or any urgent notices that have gone out because of that. if i don't have that right, just understand that that's why. but obviously, that is something that remains of huge concern here in this area, given that that is one of the most prominent industries here in this part of louisiana. >> yeah, you're not alone, ed. there's so much technology and communications that are down right now across the state. thank you very much for the reporting. we'll check back with you. so, another town that's been battered by ida is a community about an hour southeast -- sorry, southwest of new orleans. ferocious winds, heavy rain all caused extensive damage to homes and businesses there. >> jason carroll is there for us. what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, victor, we moved away from downtown houma, where we saw so much destruction there, to some of the surrounding neighborhoods and we're finding even more here in this house, a house that used to stand, now gone. that mattress right there helped them survive because they stood behind this wall, put the mattress up when ida descended upon them, and used the mattress to protect them as the house basically disintegrated around them, so they used that in order to survive, and this is where we're finding, victor and alisyn, through much of this neighborhood, i'm going to hop down here and try and show you a little more in terms of what it looks like as we take a look up the street here. more destruction. you've been talking to some of our folks in and around new orleans, and they talk about the water damage there, but out here, it was really a wind event. i know you guys were talking about this before, but this is what happens when a hurricane, category 4, descends upon an area and then just sits there with 120-mile-per-hour winds just descending on it and staying there. again, you can just take a look up this one street here and you can just see there's more destruction, downed power lines, roofs that are no longer on homes, homes partially or completely destroyed. so, as we begin our tour moving further out, further south, away from houma, continuing to find more and more destruction. guys, back to you. >> all right, jason carroll for us there in houma. we talked about how these winds are similar to tornados, but unlike tornados, i mean, tornados are pockets of concentrated damage. this is far more broad. >> yes, but it's interesting when you look at the aftermath and the devastation, some houses are standing and some right next to it are destroyed. the way you see in a tornado. so somehow the hurricane did hit people even on the same street in really different ways. >> yeah. and stayed for hours. >> so in st. james parish, its website says the majority of roadways there are impassable with dangerous electrical lines or trees down. the parish president is with us. what's the situation at this hour there? >> the situation is still a lot like it was when we woke up this morning. we have our operations crews and 911 personnel deployed, cutting and pushing debris from the roadways to try and clear our area, our infrastructure, so our residents can return home. >> we've heard from one of our reporters in laplace, reports of people going up to their attic to escape the water. are you getting those reports that there are people who had to go to their attics, go to the roof to avoid the flood waters? >> no, sir, not in st. james parish. we have not had that. to our good fortune, the storm track took a significant jog to the right and the eye of the storm passed through our neighboring st. john parish instead of the projected path it was supposed to pass here in st. james. it's very unfortunate for the folks in st. john and st. charles parishes and our thoughts and prayers are just extended beyond not just our residents but to all those folks as well. it's terrible. it's devastation. >> it is devastating. >> total devastation. >> so, to be clear, you don't think the people in your parish are trapped right now? >> no, we do have several families who need to be relocated because of extensive home damage but no one is trapped right now, and to the best of my knowledge, i have no reports of any deaths or any bodily injury to anyone in st. james parish. >> there are power lines down across this entire swath of the state, more than a million customers without power. last time i read the local reports, where you are, that the power companies were headed out to try to take the power from the lines, essentially, so that people aren't shocked or electrocuted in the water and you were asking people to stay in. are people heeding that and staying away from the roads, staying off the roads so power companies can get to them? >> for the most part, people are heeding the warnings, but you know, you always have folks that's going to get out and about to assess the area. we asking people -- we're asking our residents to stay home as much as possible, to survey your properties, we're trying the best we can to identify as many water leaks as we possibly can. from the amount of uprooted trees that we have had, it damaged a lot of water mains, and our water distribution system right now is currently operating at maybe about 25%. so, my most urgent concern right now is to get our water distribution system back up to par. >> all right, peter dufresne, st. james parish president, thank you so much. we're now going to go to the white house. this is press secretary jen psaki. >> president and his homeland security team continue to monitor the impacts of hurricane ida, something that he was monitoring through the course of the weekend. this was an extremely large and powerful hurricane, and as expected early reports suggest catastrophic damage in a number of areas along the gulf coast. and while ida has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, it is going to continue to inflict damage as it moves across the state of mississippi today and into the tennessee valley tomorrow. this will be a lengthy whole of government and whole of community response and recovery effort. and we are closely coordinating with state and local officials at every step of the way. today is damage assessments and response efforts begin in the gulf coast where conditions allow on the ground, we understand that responders are focused on the following immediate priorities. search and rescue operations and medical evacuations for those in distress, accelerating efforts to restore electrical power in louisiana and mississippi where latest counts suggest that more than 1 million customers are without electricity. restoring communications where they are down, and providing emergency food, water, and shelter to those in need. and parts of louisiana, including new orleans, energy companies have reported catastrophic damage to their transmission systems and we don't know how long it will take for the local utilities to repair but clearly that's a big priority for everyone involved. it could be weeks to get everything fully back up and running. administration officials are also engaged directly with electricity sector leadership to help ensure all available resources are being brought to bear to restore power as quickly as possible. as you all saw, the president just spoke with governors and mayors from impacted communities, and he was at fema's national response coordination center yesterday to receive the latest updates on the response operations. and to thank the hard-working staff who are working around the clock to support state and local response efforts. president also approved, you may have seen this, but last night, an emergency major declaration for louisiana which allows individuals in the impacted areas to apply for assistance. he also approved a pre-disaster emergency declaration from mississippi to authorize emergency preparation and protective measures and direct federal assistance. i just want to give you a quick overview, too, of the federal resources that are supporting state and local efforts as of now. and many of which were prepositioned before the storm. fema is working with its federal, state, and local partners as well as nongovernmental agencies to support needs of areas affected by ida. the agency position supplies such as meals, water, and generators to assist states with impacts from the storm. more than 3,600 fema employees are deployed to alabama, florida, georgia, louisiana, mississippi, and texas, and are ready to provide additional support as needed. fema has staged more than 3.4 million meals, millions of liters of water, more than 35,700 tarps and roughly 200 generators. hundreds of additional ambulances and air ambulances have also been moved into the area. seven fema incident management assistance teams, imats, and 17 urban search and rescue teams have been activated along with debris subject matter experts. the department of health and human services is deploying a 250-bed federal medical shelter to alexandria, louisiana, and the u.s. coast guard has 27 rotary or fixed wing aircraft and the department of defense has 60 high water vehicles and 14 rotary wing aircraft prepositioned to assist with rescue efforts. shelters are open in affected areas throughout the gulf coast across the impacted states, and they are implementing steps to prevent the spread of covid-19. the national guard has also activated more than 5,200 personnel in louisiana, mississippi, texas, and alabama to support response efforts, and finally, the army corps of engineers has activated planning and response teams for debris, temporary roofing, and temporary housing. again, we are working closely with state and local officials, even though the storm has been downgraded, damaging wind gusts continue to be a threat which will lead to additional download trees and power outages and ida will continue to produce heavy rainfall, life-threatening flash and urban flooding and tornados remain a threat. finally, our secretary of homeland security, and fema administrator dan criswell will travel to baton rouge and meet with the governor. the fema administrator will travel to jackson, mississippi, that evening and tour the damage. the last update i wanted to provide to all of you is that as part of our all across government effort approach to preventing evictions, today, attorney general merrick garland is calling on the entire legal community to take immediate action to help prevent unnecessary evictions during this public health emergency. the attorney general's call to action asked major law firms, law school students and individual lawyers to work with courts, legal service providers, and nonprofits through services to ensure access to justice for vulnerable tenants. so far, over 40 major law school deans, including from harvard, yale, stanford, columbia, howard, ucla and more have comm committed students and law clinics and the legal services corporation, the american bar association and the national housing law project have joined the commitment to immediate action and on thursday, we will join a nationwide emergency rental assistance program training held by the association of pro bono counsel and law firm anti-racism alliance. darlene, kick us off. >> thanks, jen. switching to afghanistan, as of yesterday, there were about 300 u.s. citizens who were still there and wanted to get out by the deadline. do you have an update on that number? are we still looking at 300 waiting to get out? >> absolutely. well, i know my state department colleagues will have a more specific up to date number but let me give you an update of where things stand at this point. of those who self-identified as americans in afghanistan considering leaving the country since august 14th, we have thus far received confirmation that about 6,000 have been evacuated or otherwise departed. this number will likely continue to grow as our outreach and arrivals continue and we have been providing, as you know, regular updates to all of you on evacuations. the initial assessment, if we go back to august 14th, was that there were fewer than 6,000 americans in afghanistan who wanted to get out, so as